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古有仙人常坐一樹下思禪入定。有鳥棲其懷中。恐驚鳥故。跏趺不動。候鳥別棲。然後出定。慈物之心一至於是。
【白話註解】
古時有一仙人，在深山修道，時常靜坐在一棵大樹下，摒除雜念，修習禪定。是時，正值冬天，氣候非常寒冷，時近黃昏，有一隻飢寒小鳥飛來，就棲息在仙人懷中，希望獲得一些溫暖，能延續牠的生命，仙人惟恐驚動鳥兒，因此盤腿打坐，身體不敢搖動，讓鳥兒無憂無懼安處懷中，等到翌日，小鳥飛往別處棲止，仙人才出定。慈悲愛護動物的心懷，竟然到了如此程度。
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In ancient times there was an immortal who cultivated in the remote mountains. He sat constantly under a giant tree and cultivated Chan, concentrating his mind to get rid of all his false thinking.
One time during the winter, when the weather was extremely cold, at about sunset, a hungry, freezing little bird flew up to the immortal and nestled up against his chest, attempting to absorb some warmth from the immortal's body in order to prolong its own life. The immortal continued to sit in full lotus, not daring to move his body the slightest bit, for fear he might disturb or frighten the little bird. His only concern was that the bird could rest comfortably.
Not until the next day, after the bird flew off to find another place to nest, did the immortal allow himself to move and come out of samadhi.
From this account we can know something of the magnitude of the ancients' kindness and compassion even toward little birds. This is something we should study and develop within ourselves.
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